C.P. Swarnkar is a man of clear vision. With a single-minded focus, he has been pursuing to make the Syndicate Bank a symbol of strength and stability in the banking world, and turn it into a paradigm of excellence. In fact, the success of the man lies on the fact that he has succeeded to inculcate his zest for life into the minds of his junior brigade. Significantly, the motive to make profit and the constant threat of plunging into a failure, drive various organisations to be innovative and efficient-the essential ingredients of economic growth.

And nobody understands this dictum better than this veteran banker. The former Executive Director of Punjab National Bank (PNB), Swarnkar started his banking career with PNB as a probationary officer. He became a General Manager in 1998 and an Executive Director of PNB in June 2005 before he moved to his current appointment as CMD, Syndicate bank.

His goal is to redefine and redevelop people's management technique to unleash human potential and drive growth. He has made his agenda clearer to everyone-make the Syndicate Bank the bank of the people. And that's why people do bank upon the Syndicate Bank to secure their future. He has secured the highest level of satisfaction for the customers for which he has inculcated a true sense of dedicated work culture among thousands of the Bank's employees. And the results definitely speak for themselves. Syndicate Bank reported a net profit of Rs 226.12 crore for the third quarter of financial year 2006-07, an increase of 20.3 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year. The gross profit for the third quarter was Rs 328.10 crore against Rs 290.76 crore in the corresponding period of the financial year.

Swarnkar has been striving hard to develop leadership of high quality corporate governance through sound business practices, enhance shareholders' value and retain the competitive edge through innovation and world class standards of delivery of contemporary services and products. He aims at rebuilding a vibrant and proactive financial institution fully committed to national development. And going beyond his call of duty is nothing new to this man. He is using its five RRBs (Regional Rural Bank) to reinforce itself in the rural areas and he has undertaken the effort of cleaning up the ponds in villages for a social cause. He had asked each of the RRBs to clean 20 ponds each in a village and so far they have completed the work in 100 ponds. This has resulted in recharging the ground water sources and making good water available to the local populace. Having successfully completed the cleaning of 100 ponds in one month, Swarnkar is planning to push the initiative in a big way and intends to clean up more than 1,000 ponds in 2007-08. He is not looking for Government support or aid. He desires to rejuvenate the water resources and make water usable in India's villages. More than anything, under his leadership, the bank has adopted a highly effective mechanism of corporate governance to ensure continued growth of shareholder value keeping in view the interests of all stakeholders. Indeed, his banking legacy will be a force to reckon with for the other bankers to follow.